{"title":"Barau's petrel, Pterodroma baraui, as a bioindicator of plastic pollution in the South-West Indian Ocean: A multifaceted approach","authors":"","doi":"10.1016/j.marenvres.2024.106709","DOIUrl":null,"url":null,"abstract":"<div><p>Marine plastic pollution is well described by bioindicator species in temperate and polar regions but remains understudied in tropical oceans. We addressed this gap by evaluating the seabird Barau's petrel as bioindicator of plastic pollution in the South-West Indian Ocean. We conducted a multifaceted approach including necropsies of birds to quantify plastic ingestion; GPS tracking of breeding adults to identify their foraging areas; manta trawling of plastic debris to measure plastic pollution at sea and modelling of plastic dispersal. We developed a spatial risk index of seabird exposure to plastic ingestion. Seventy-one percent of the analysed birds had ingested plastic. GPS tracking coupled with manta trawling and dispersal modelling show that adults consistently foraged at places with high level of plastic concentration. The highest ingestion risk occurred in the northwest of Reunion Island and at latitude 30°S. Our findings confirm that Barau's petrel is a reliable bioindicator of plastic pollution in the region.</p></div>","PeriodicalId":18204,"journal":{"name":"Marine environmental research","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":3.0000,"publicationDate":"2024-08-29","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0141113624003702/pdfft?md5=c4a8da9c6f8af77ee6929148edad8ad6&pid=1-s2.0-S0141113624003702-main.pdf","citationCount":"0","resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":null,"PeriodicalName":"Marine environmental research","FirstCategoryId":"93","ListUrlMain":"https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0141113624003702","RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"环境科学与生态学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":null,"EPubDate":"","PubModel":"","JCR":"Q2","JCRName":"ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES","Score":null,"Total":0}
引用次数: 0
Abstract
Marine plastic pollution is well described by bioindicator species in temperate and polar regions but remains understudied in tropical oceans. We addressed this gap by evaluating the seabird Barau's petrel as bioindicator of plastic pollution in the South-West Indian Ocean. We conducted a multifaceted approach including necropsies of birds to quantify plastic ingestion; GPS tracking of breeding adults to identify their foraging areas; manta trawling of plastic debris to measure plastic pollution at sea and modelling of plastic dispersal. We developed a spatial risk index of seabird exposure to plastic ingestion. Seventy-one percent of the analysed birds had ingested plastic. GPS tracking coupled with manta trawling and dispersal modelling show that adults consistently foraged at places with high level of plastic concentration. The highest ingestion risk occurred in the northwest of Reunion Island and at latitude 30°S. Our findings confirm that Barau's petrel is a reliable bioindicator of plastic pollution in the region.
期刊介绍:
Marine Environmental Research publishes original research papers on chemical, physical, and biological interactions in the oceans and coastal waters. The journal serves as a forum for new information on biology, chemistry, and toxicology and syntheses that advance understanding of marine environmental processes.
Submission of multidisciplinary studies is encouraged. Studies that utilize experimental approaches to clarify the roles of anthropogenic and natural causes of changes in marine ecosystems are especially welcome, as are those studies that represent new developments of a theoretical or conceptual aspect of marine science. All papers published in this journal are reviewed by qualified peers prior to acceptance and publication. Examples of topics considered to be appropriate for the journal include, but are not limited to, the following:
– The extent, persistence, and consequences of change and the recovery from such change in natural marine systems
– The biochemical, physiological, and ecological consequences of contaminants to marine organisms and ecosystems
– The biogeochemistry of naturally occurring and anthropogenic substances
– Models that describe and predict the above processes
– Monitoring studies, to the extent that their results provide new information on functional processes
– Methodological papers describing improved quantitative techniques for the marine sciences.